


define function

by hypercatt



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Gen, chiaki is a robot au?, chihiro is good dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 10:30:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19944712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypercatt/pseuds/hypercatt
Summary: Chihiro tries to find a way to prove himself.





	define function

**Author's Note:**

> this is a fic i wrote a while ago but never got around to editing until recently ;w;;  
> i've written a few danganronpa fics but this is the first i've published so!!! please enjoy!!!!

Chihiro had always wanted to make more of himself. As in, when he thought about himself, he had a long list of all the things he wanted to change, both in himself and in how others saw him.

He knew he wasn’t completely useless, because, well, if he was, then why would he still be attending Hope’s Peak Academy? There were a lot of things he could help with, like assisting in figuring out the newest software layout, or that time when they needed someone small to fit into the gap behind the equipment shed to get Kuwata’s baseball back, or when Maizono needed a body reference for her new ‘Feminine Petite’ line of dresses…

…Chihiro wasn’t really sure if he wanted to be useful for those kinds of things.

That was why, when his phone rang one evening carrying a strangely professional sounding voice, he decided to listen for a little while, and ultimately accepted their invitation to visit their company. It was sort of scary, not the kind of thing he would normally do, but- he had to live up to his talent, didn’t he? Whilst the others were winning international sporting competitions or helping the development of human knowledge and all amazing things like that, he was just- writing code. Helping people get rid of viruses.

But, this time-! He was going to do something good. Really make a difference. Help change the world! Or…something. Chihiro still wasn’t entire sure what it was he needed to do, even as he walked up to the (scarily) tall building in his best clothes, trembling a little as he stepped through the doors. Everything felt very polished and proper in here. The floor was so shiny he could see his own nervous face staring back at him, and the person sitting behind the desk looked so refined it was almost unnatural. In a place like this, Chihiro wouldn’t be too surprised to find out they were actually robots or something. Well, maybe a little surprised because that’d be a really good robot- but- regardless. But, based on how she firmly instructed him the way to the meeting room, she probably wasn’t. Chihiro only stuttered once in his reply.

The building didn’t become any less intimidating as he travelled up in the elevator, glancing out at the different floors as other workers got on and off. Other workers who were giving him strange looks. Obviously. He probably looked completely out of place, like a little kid who accidentally got lost on the way to school. Actually, he was starting to feel like that was who he was right now. A person who...shouldn’t be here. Oh wow, definitely shouldn’t be here. This was scary. They were probably just going to laugh once he showed his face-

The elevator stopped again, and Chihiro jumped, spotting the number of his floor. Okay, no, it was okay. They asked him to come here. So they- couldn’t laugh. They were professionals. He was here as another professional. This was a formal meeting and he was fine. He knew what he was doing. Probably.

Taking a deep breath, Chihiro stepped out the elevator and glanced at the walls, hurriedly following the signs to find the room he needed. At least it was well signposted…it’d be embarrassing if he showed up late from getting lost or something.

And then he was outside the door. Chihiro swallowed, raised a hand, and then squeezed his eyes shut. He just needed to be confident. That’s what the others said all the time, wasn’t it? A little more- confidence. With a trembling hand, Chihiro knocked, and waited. A few seconds passed before the door opened, a man with a stern face looking down at him.

“Name?”

“I’m, um, Fujisaki Chihiro. From Hope’s P-Peak Academy…I got a call…”

“Yes, of course. Come in.” The man stepped back and opened up the door, and Chihiro was relieved to find it wasn’t a huge meeting room with forty workers all sat around a long table, but instead just a small room with a normal desk, and the only person was a woman, also smartly dressed. “Please, take a seat.”

“Th-thank you,” Chihiro said, bowing a little, before sitting down and hoping his back didn’t look unnaturally straight.

The man sat down across from him. “How was your journey? I hope we weren’t too difficult to find.”

“N-not too bad, I just got the bus here. It’s a big building, so, um, I found it easily…” Chihiro fought to maintain eye contact with such an intimidating person. Sometimes people like Owada could look scary, but- somehow that felt different.

“And I’m sorry about the inconvenience of having such a meeting on a weekday morning. Will your studies be affected at all?”

“Um, no no, it’s fine! I just booked the morning off. They don’t really mind…”

“That’s good to hear.” The man moved to look at the desk, flicking through a few pieces of paper. Chihiro resisted the urge to swallow again. Polite small talk was over now, it seemed. Time for business. “Now, I’m sure you’re wondering exactly why we asked you here. Given your place at Hope’s Peak Academy, we were hoping you’d be the right person for the job. Which is, to put it simply- we want you to create an AI program.”

“AI…?” Chihiro blinked. “For a computer program, you mean?”

“Not quite. Due to company policy, I’m not allowed to disclose any precise details, but the main point you need to be aware of is that the AI program will be transferred onto a chip and placed into…hm, shall we say, a robot?”

“Wh-what kind of robot…?”

“Multi-purpose,” the man said shortly, and didn’t elaborate. “There will be a list of requirements of what the program needs to include, but mostly we’re aiming for it function as close to a human as possible.”

“I-is something like that really possible…?” Chihiro frowned at his lap, trying to imagine it. It’d definitely have to be a very sophisticated program…a lot of writing code from absolute scratch…

“You’re the Ultimate Programmer, aren’t you? You tell us.”

“I mean…I could probably…i-if I had enough time…”

“We’re working to a deadline of eighteen months. And obviously, we would provide all funding, on the basis that you stick to our contract.”

“Eighteen months…?” It sounded like a long time right now, but Chihiro was sure with such a large scale project it’d probably seem a lot less very quickly. “Then, how much would the funding be?”

The woman suddenly spoke up. “We’re currently offering around two million yen for the completed job.”

“Th-that much?” Chihiro looked at their faces to see if there was any hint of a joke, but they were still staring seriously in his direction. “Are you sure I’m the right person? I mean…”

“If you don’t feel you’d be able to complete the job, then that’s fine,” the man said, glancing at his papers with a somewhat bored face, like they’d already given up on him. Or maybe it was a question that had been asked a lot of times? Chihiro wasn’t sure. Had they tried a lot of people before asking him? It was probably likely, since he was just…well, just himself.

“Though, we have to ask if you decline the job, that you don’t disclose any of our conversation to anyone outside of this building,” the woman added. “Company guidelines.”

“U-um, no, I just…” He thought about it for a moment, glancing down at his lap to ignore their careful stares. It sounded like a serious job, with that amount of money, it was probably really important. And it definitely wouldn’t be too easy, to create an AI in eighteen months that had the same level of reasoning and consciousness as a human- or at least, something close to that. Nobody had done anything like that before, he was pretty sure. Which meant, for anyone else, it hadn’t even possible. So there was no way…

…But, then again. It was like they said. He _was_ the Ultimate Programmer, wasn’t he? And he was here because he wanted to do something big for once, to help people and show them he wasn’t so weak, wasn’t so useless. If he declined now, wouldn’t he just be back to where he was, waiting for another opportunity, just to turn it down again?

“I think I can do it,” he said, nodding firmly. “I’d like to give it a shot! Um, if that’s okay with you.”

“We’re happy to hear that,” the woman said, just as the man presented him with a crisp looking stack of forms, pushing a pen towards him.

“If you just sign here…”

Chihiro swallowed, glancing over the small print, before carefully signing his name down.

This time- he was going to be useful!

-

“Naegi-san, Maizono-san, um- is it possible I could borrow your voices for a moment…?”

The two blinked up at him, and Chihiro tensed a little, suddenly feeling awkward. It was the middle of lunch, and it didn’t look like they were doing anything much, but even still… “Oh, um, sorry, was that weird?”

“My voice?” Maizono said, smiling in confusion. “Do you want me to sing for you? I could do my group’s new piece! But it’d have to be a solo edition, obviously.”

“Uhh, I can’t really sing…” Naegi said apologetically, and Chihiro held up his hands.

“Um, no no! You don’t need to sing anything. I just, um, I need some voice samples for something I’m working on. I need as many as I can get, so I was hoping…”

“Oh, that’s fine too! It’s important for an idol to act as well as sing and dance, you know!” Maizono winked, and Chihiro relaxed a little, smiling. “What do you need us to say?”

“Uh, just something like ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’ would be fine. Just, anything normal. Try to sound as natural as possible, since then I can develop a more complex understanding of language.”

“I’ll…do my best?” Naegi said with an uncertain smile, and Chihiro smiled back as he held out the recorder, nodding as they spoke into the microphone. It probably wasn’t completely natural speech, since Naegi sounded a little apprehensive and Maizono was a lot more chipper than a normal person would be, but in a way, that was better. If he wanted a program that could respond to all different types of speech, he needed to collect as many as possible, which included the uncertain and the over-enthusiastic.

“Thank you.” Chihiro bowed slightly, slipping the recorder back into his pocket. “This will really a help a lot!”

“What’s it for?” Maizono asked, tilting her head to the side.

“It’s-“ He paused, biting back a little. “Um, I…can’t really say. It’s for a big company, and they said I shouldn’t tell anyone…uh, sorry, I would tell you if I could, really…”

“No worries!” Maizono said, waving a hand, and Naegi nodded beside her. They really were very nice people, Chihiro thought. It was easy to get voice samples from them, but probably some of his other classmates wouldn’t be so easy. Maybe he could just ask Mukuro instead of Junko…? If they were twins, their voices wouldn’t be that different, right…? Even though he was pretty sure they didn’t speak anything alike. Well, hopefully he could gather enough voices without having to rely on hers.

By the time school finished, Chihiro had managed to collect eight different voice clips, including one from the teacher. It wasn’t much, but even still, he was kind of excited to go home and test them out. Having a new project like this- it was fun! It’d probably get a lot harder once that initial thrill wore off, but right now, it really was just a good time. Especially such a big project. He could get home and work on it all day, and then the day after, for months and months and months…it was amazing!

As soon as he got back, Chihiro set up his computer and started typing in bits of code he’d been jotting down during the day, frowning as he found mistakes in previous lines. Had he been too tired the day before? Well, at least he’d found them now…

After a few hours of typing and test, Chihiro pulled out the voice recorder from earlier and started to upload the files onto his computer, just to make sure they were there when he needed them. But, for now, the main thing he wanted to check…

“ _Hello_ ,” Chihiro said into the computer, making sure his voice was clear, and loud enough to be picked up by the microphone. It sometimes felt like the only time he could speak properly was when he was talking to machines. Which…was probably kind of sad, honestly. “ _It is nice to meet you.”_

There was a pause, and Chihiro wondered if it was still too early for this kind of test, but-

“It. Is. Nice to. Meet. You.”

“Ah, you did it! Well done!!” He beamed at his computer, clasping his hands together in joy. “Um, now let’s see… _how are you?”_

Another pause. Chihiro noted quickly he should probably try and increase the response time. “Seventeen.”

“No, no, _how are you_?”

“Error. ‘How' is not a recognised command.”

“Hmm, can you not do that yet…?” Chihiro sighed, closing the program and going back to the command line. “This is going to take a while, huh…”

Even still, it wasn’t really a bad thing. The more errors he could find, the more errors he’d be able to fix. And he could stay up all night if he wanted to! Tomorrow was Saturday, so it didn’t really matter if he was tired. Maybe a nap here or there, but…it’d be fine. It wasn’t like this was supposed to easy, after all. That’s why it was fun.

-

An error?

No, he’d just checked Stack Overflow and fixed the problem...

Or was it something else? Where he was he- somewhere around line 3,200, wasn’t he…?

“Um, Fujisaki-san?”

But then, maybe it really was a different error because the program still wasn’t recognising the voice command, so he’d still need to fix that. But he was sure he was getting closer, for definite.

“Oi, kid, wake up.”

No, not yet…he hadn’t saved yet…

“…Are you trying to type?”

Chihiro blinked his eyes open, staring at his outstretched hands, which he was _sure_ were on a keyboard a few seconds ago, but were now sat on his school desk, fingers still twitching across a ghost ‘ctrl+s’.

“Huh…?” He sat up a little, turning to see Owada and Naegi staring down at him, the latter looking a little concerned. Then he looked behind them, finding the room almost empty. “Ah! D-did I fall asleep?”

“Tch, just a bit. Class is already over.” Owada gestured to the rest of the classroom, and Chihiro’s eyes widened.

“I don’t think the teacher noticed though,” Naegi added quickly, but it didn’t really help him feel much better. He didn’t even remember falling asleep, just feeling a little sleepy, and then… “But you don’t normally fall asleep in lessons, right? Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine! Really, it’s nothing to worry about. I’ve just been, um, working a lot lately…”

“Still on that ultra-secret-mysterious project thing?” Owada asked, and Chihiro nodded a little, smiling sheepishly.

“Sorry. I really would tell you if I could…”

“Is it really that important you gotta be losin’ sleep over it?”

Chihiro thought for a second. Right now, he was kind of ahead of schedule, and it was still a couple of months before his next detailed check-in with the company director, but…more than anything, this was about proving to himself that he could something useful. Something difficult. An actual achievement. “I- think so, yes.”

“Still, it’s not good for your health to stay up all night,” Naegi said, smiling kindly. “But if you want, you can borrow my notes for this lesson. My handwriting might kind of messy, but…”

“Ah, really? Thank you, Naegi-san!” Chihiro bowed a little in his seat. “I promise, I’ll try to get more sleep! It’s just easy to get carried away sometimes, so…”

“If you need any help with anything, we’d be happy to help,” Naegi offered, and Owada nodded firmly beside him.

“Yeah, like, I dunno anythin’ about computers or whatever, but if you need any more of those voice things, all you gotta do is ask.”

“Thank you so much,” Chihiro said, bowing his head again. Even if they were telling him not to work as hard, their belief in him was making him want to try even harder. And it was nice to have that kind of support too. Maybe once the AI was a little more developed, he could ask them to help teach it…? That wouldn’t really be breaking the contract guidelines, would it…? It was only helping the project’s development, so- that should be fine, right? Probably. He’d have to ask.

Trying to stay true to his friends’ advice, Chihiro resisted the urge to go straight to the computer the second he stepped through the door, and instead opted for a short nap- even if more code was all he really dreamt about. And then, after he woke up, he tried to spend a moment relaxing, thinking about other things. Taking a proper break, for once…

But- things were really starting to get exciting now! Once he got those lines in there and tested them out, he could really start developing on the AI’s personality. It was a little strange to think about, in a way, like he was trying to create an entire person from nothing, but still- exciting. And maybe it was weird, but Chihiro already kind of felt like the AI _had_ a personality. All its little frequent errors and manners of responding and everything else- he knew he was the one who’d put all the components there, but the way in which they were displayed made him imagine he was already talking to a real person. Which was- definitely weird when he thought about it like that…maybe he’d been working with computers too long.

Speaking of which…Chihiro moved along his bed and stared at his computer, the blank screen almost a foreign sight to him. Had it been long enough now? Probably, right?? How long was a break supposed to be? He’d already had two naps today, plus the little one just now, so…

With a grin, Chihiro sat up and jumped across to the computer, tapping the power button, feeling himself come to life at the same time the computer did. And now he was even more energised than before- tonight was definitely going to be a lot of fun!

-

“But my next meeting is coming up soon, so I guess they might tell me some more things about it then?” Chihiro frowned at the computer before clicking again, a crack of audio travelling down the phone balanced on his shoulder.

“But it hasn’t been too difficult yet?” his father’s voice asked, and Chihiro hummed a little.

“Maybe. It’s not too bad. I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress, but I’m sure there are still a lot of bugs I need to work out…and also finding a way to simulate emotion might be kind of hard…”

“Well, I have no worries that you’ll be able to figure it out!” His father laughed down the line, and Chihiro felt his chest lift a little. “Just make sure you don’t work too hard, okay? I know it can be easy to get carried away with big projects like this.”

“Mm, I won’t! My friends already made sure of it, haha…” After another click, a line of text appeared on the screen, and Chihiro gave a slight laugh. “Aah, I was trying to test it at normal game difficulty, but this is the third time in a row I’ve lost…maybe I’m the one who needs to improve my skills?”

“Be happy that your children are excelling past you,” his father laughed again. “It’s an exciting feeling. Just like with you.”

“I-I learnt everything I know from you! I wouldn’t have been able to do anything like this without you helping me all this time!”

“Just like your AI! It shouldn’t feel too different, right?”

“I mean…” Chihiro hesitated, glancing back at the screen. “Maybe a little…but I definitely haven’t surpassed you!”

“Haha, if you say so.” The phone crackled again, and Chihiro smiled. It was always nice to speak to his parents, since he didn’t get to see them very often anymore. And his father was the best person to talk to about anything code related. Nobody understood like he did.

“Um, but…speaking of stuff like that…” He paused again, typing another line before taking a breath. “How did you and Mom choose a name for me?”

It felt weird to ask, but he’d kind of been wondering for a while now. After getting this far into the project, he felt like he needed to call the AI _something_ , but picking a name wasn’t as easy as he thought. And the company hadn’t mentioned anything about names, so maybe they didn’t want him to hardcode one in if it was just going to get changed, but- it just felt wrong to be putting so much work into something that didn’t even have a name.

“Names?” His father made a thoughtful noise. “Hmm, I’m not really sure. We just chose something that seemed to fit, you know? Just think of a few and eventually you’ll get something that feels like the one.”

“Right, thanks…”

He stayed trying to think of something after his father had gone, even after the sun started to set outside. His father had made it sound so easy, but it really wasn’t. There were thousands of names, so how was he supposed to find just one that fit? For the first time in a while, Chihiro ended up paused from his work, scrolling through name sites and frowning. None of these seemed to fit.

A last name and a first name…Chihiro frowned, looking around for some inspiration. There had to be something fitting, something that encapsulated what he wanted the AI to represent. But what exactly was it? Something like…a connection between people. The vastness of technology, all over the world…each country, each stretch of land and the ocean between them…

Ah. He might have an idea.

Chihiro quickly tabbed out from the website, moving back to his code and once again focusing on typing. Even if it was just a placeholder, it was still nice to think his AI could have a name. More of an...existence. Maybe that was a stupid thing to think, but…he still believed it! Everyone had to have a name. It was important.

“G-good afternoon!” Chihiro greeted eagerly, finished with his newest additions. There was a slight pause, the same input lag as always, but-

“Good afternoon. It is. Nice to meet. You.”

“Right! What’s your name?” Chihiro waited, pressing his lips together and feeling a spark of excitement in his chest.

“Hello. My name is. Nanami. Chi-aki.”

“Nice to meet you!” Chihiro grinned, leaning back happily. She actually responded with it! Ah, but…was she really a ‘she’? He’d picked a girl’s name on a whim, but…it definitely seemed to suit her. An AI as similar to a human as possible? That was- basically just a human in itself. So maybe she was a ‘she’. She was Nanami Chiaki.

-

It was probably stupid to still be scared of the building after so long, but Chihiro couldn’t stop himself from trembling as he travelled up in the elevator, anxiously holding his notes to his chest. It wasn’t anything scary. Just a progress check. That was normal enough, but even still…something about the building still made him uncomfortable. The joy he got from chatting to Chiaki and the terror from stepping into this building…they didn’t seem connected at all.

Chihiro swallowed as the elevator stopped, stepping out as quickly as possible and hurrying along the corridor with his head down. The sooner he finished this meeting, the sooner he could get home and carry on working on Chiaki. She was still a little buggy, but he felt like they were having good conversations now. It felt weird to admit it, but she was almost a friend, in a way. Spending time with her was fun. That was...probably kind of sad.

They were already waiting for him when he knocked, and he bowed before sitting down, nerves building again. “G-good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon,” the man in front of him said with a deep voice, and Chihiro couldn’t remember if this was the same one from before. “I assume progress is going well?”

“Ah- yes! I, um, have all my notes if you need to see them…” Chihiro placed the papers down on the table, before drawing his hands back into his lap. “Everything is on schedule, so please don’t worry!”

“I’m glad to hear.” The man took the papers and glanced over them, before putting them back down. “Considering how well your progress seems to be going, I’d like to discuss with you our further plans for the project.”

“F-further plans…?” Was that what they intended to actually do with the AI? Chihiro couldn’t forget they hadn’t actually told him that yet.

“There’s no need to worry about additional work. We’ve already taken care of all the details for you.” The man paused, before passing over a piece of paper with a diagram on it. Chihiro blinked, looking down. “We hired you for your programming expertise, not robotics.”

Drawn on the paper was a detailed diagram of what looked to be a very complicated model of a machine, filled with terminology and maths that Chihiro didn’t really understand. But, more than that, if he drew back a little and looked at the entire thing as a whole...it kind of looked like...a girl?

“What do you think?”

“Ah, um…she’s very cute!!” Chihiro said, nodding after another glance of the paper. The man raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t pay close attention to the exterior. That’s just a stand-in design until we have more details. The question is more will it be possible to build an AI that can work alongside a model of this nature.”

“Oh, um, o-of course…” Chihiro stared at the paper, flushing. Ah, he probably looked like an idiot right now. “I mean, I think I’ll be able to handle it, with this more information…”

“I’m glad to hear. We’ll be sending you the prototype model in a few weeks from now, so you can work in the movement commands and the like.”

“Movement commands…” Chihiro tried to imagine what kind of code would be needed for that. It wasn’t like it was his first time needing to program something of that nature, but making it autonomous and fluid…especially to the point of being humanlike…

“Is there a problem?”

“N-no! Not at all!” Well, he’d probably be able to figure it out. After coming this far, there was no way he could get put off now. If he was able to enter this scary looking building a whole two times…there’s nothing that could be worse than that. “I’ll do my best.”

Though, even after he said that, Chihiro still wasn’t fully prepared when a huge package turned up on his doorstep a few weeks later. Not even delivered from a normal posting company…Chihiro stared up at it after dragging it into his living room, (in which he’d thought maybe twenty times to just give up and call someone strong like Owada to do it for him) wondering what to do next. Was that really Chiaki’s body? He threw a glance at the computer, then back at the box. Even though he knew it was coming, it was still strange to imagine giving that gentle voice on his screen an actual face.

Chihiro took a deep breath, and made work on opening the boxes.

It looked more or less like the diagram he’d been shown before, which was almost a relief in a way. Just because since seeing that, he’d been subconsciously picturing Chiaki with that body, to the point that anything else would have seemed unfitting. And it really was cute! Yamada would probably be impressed by the level of detail and quality in the model, since he seemed to know a lot about those things. Chihiro held out a hand, tentatively touching her arm, before jumping back. It was- just like a real human. The texture of the ‘skin’…was this what people meant when they said uncanny valley?

No, but it was mean to think like that. It probably just seemed weird now because it was like a person with nothing inside. No brain or feelings. That’s what she needed. As soon as those eyes opened, Chihiro was sure all the coldness of her demeanour would melt away. Even if this was a big step, it was one he needed to take. A humanlike AI without a body…that wouldn’t really be human at all.

His hands trembled as he took the chip full of his code and walked back to the body. It felt even weirder to have to push her short hair back to reach for the neck, especially considering he had to stand on his tiptoes just to stretch. But then there was the click of the chip slotting neatly into place, and he pulled back quickly, waiting.

“Chi- ah, no, um…Nanami…san?” Chihiro held his breath, waiting for any sign of movement. It was almost scary. Like meeting someone new. Maybe that was why he’d felt the need to call her by her ‘family’ name despite everything? But a rude first impression wouldn’t be a good one!

The pause stretched for just a moment too long, and Chihiro started to feel disappoint sink in, because maybe he made a mistake in his code and this wasn’t going to work after all, but then- “…Good. Afternoon.”

“Y-you spoke!” Chihiro said, eyes wide, before stepping back slightly. It felt like he didn’t even see it properly. Did her mouth move? Did anything else?

Chiaki stood still for a moment, before suddenly her eyes snapped open, and Chihiro held his breath. They looked so…real. She looked like any other pretty high school student he might see.

“…We’ve met before,” Chiaki said, and Chihiro brightened, smiling widely.

“We have! Do you know my name?”

“…Fujisaki. Chihiro-kun.”

“That’s right!” Chihiro grinned, feeling a wave of pride in his chest. Not only did the face recognition feature work, but it was working accurately!! Maybe it wasn’t a huge deal since she didn’t exactly have a huge database of faces right now, but- it was still a success! Actually, it might be a good idea to invite his friends over soon to meet her, just to practice with more natural settings. Or it might still be too early…well, that was a decision for later.

“Ch-Chiaki,” he started, before shaking his head. She might not understand if he stuttered, so he had to make sure his voice was clear and confident. A difficult task, even if it was to a machine. “Chiaki, please take one step forwards.”

There was a pause, before Chiaki stiffly raised one arm to mid-height, before leaving it there. Chihiro smiled pityingly. Well, he couldn’t expect everything to go so smoothly on first attempt.

“That wasn’t quite right, but don’t worry! We’ll figure it out.”

“Okay. I understand.”

“Um, you can put your arm down now…”

Chiaki stared at him, hand still held up high. “No, I don’t understand that.”

“…Take a step back…?”

A slight delay, then Chiaki lowered her arm again, and Chihiro sighed. There was definitely still a lot of figuring out to do.

-

Chihiro stared at the board anxiously, eyes flickering up from the pieces to Chiaki. She kept her gaze firmly on the board in a way that gave him hope, even if he couldn’t quite be sure this would work just yet.

“Okay, Chiaki. You’re paying attention, right? You know the rules?”

“I know the rules. Chess is a very simple game.”

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Chiaki paused, then nodded once, even if it was slightly jerky. “Let’s play.”

“I’ll go first.”

“Understood.”

Chihiro made a deliberate movement with his hand, taking care to make the action very slow and obvious, moving one of his pieces forwards across the board. Then he waited. It wasn’t like Chiaki needed to be told it was her turn in a game as simple as chess, but he was still a little uncertain.

After a few more seconds, Chiaki finally raised her arm, opening up her palm above the board. It was very still for a moment, and Chihiro held his breath. That was a good start…

...Then all at once Chiaki sprang back into action and slammed her hand down on the table with enough force to make the board pieces fly off and scatter to the floor. Chihiro flinched, watching a few of the pawns roll across the floorboards. Chiaki looked up with a blank stare.

“…This isn’t right.”

“Ah, mm. It’s not.”

“This game isn’t very good.”

“It’s not the game…” Chihiro said, smiling slightly as he leaned down to pick the pieces up. “This is a delicate movement, you see?” He held up a piece, showing Chiaki his fingers. “Gentle. Slow.”

“Slow…” Chiaki seemed to be consider this for a moment, before holding out her palm. “I’ll do it this time.”

“Here.” Chihiro placed the piece back into her hand, and Chaiki nodded, holding it in her palm.

“I’ve picked it up.”

“But, you can’t hold it like that.”

“…It seems okay.”

“How are you going to put it down correctly?”

Chiaki stared for a moment, looking down at the piece and then to the board, before raising her head slightly. “Ah. It won’t work.”

“Right? So you need to hold it in your fingers.”

“I see…” Chiaki seemed to think this for a few seconds more, before tilting her hand and effectively dropping the piece back on the floor. They both watched as it rolled down the floorboard slightly. “I did it wrong again.”

“That’s okay! I’ll try to figure something out later.” Chihiro smiled, collecting the rest of the mess up. “But you’re getting better!”

“Ah, thank you.”

The order of the words was fine, but Chihiro couldn’t help worry about the level of speech. She was supposed to be learning to speak more naturally based on interactions with others, but…only talking to him, it wasn’t progressing too quickly. Maybe it _would_ be more beneficial to introduce her to his friends…but, wasn’t that breaking the rules of the agreement? Ah, but then how else was he supposed to advance her speech? The internet might be helpful, but that could also be kind of…risky.

“You can practice this if you want,” Chihiro said, pointing to the board, and Chiaki gave another lagged nod. “But don’t worry if you still can’t get it.”

“No, chess is simple. I already know how to do this.”

“But can you pick it up yet?” Chihiro asked, smiling.

“…Ah. I’ll keep trying.”

But even if she was a little buggy still, Chihiro couldn’t resist feeling fond towards her. In a way, she was like his daughter. Or-…something like that. Obviously it wasn’t the same way parents felt towards their children, but it was closest thing he could imagine. Chihiro smiled to himself as he turned around to grab his homework, hearing the familiar sound of chess pieces hitting the floor again. It was just nice to have someone else around, he supposed.

-

The third time Chihiro met with the company, things started to feel different.

The words and the process were all the same, but Chihiro couldn’t help starting to feel nervous as the conversation progressed and he noticed the amount of papers stacked around the man speaking to him. Big, official looking pieces of paper with bold lines and coloured logos. This didn’t feel right. Was he just being scared again, like always?

“We still have over half the amount of time left, but it seems we’re a little ahead of schedule right now,” the man said, glancing over the papers Chihiro had given him. “Well, as expected from a Hope Peak’s Student.”

It was nice that they were treating him so highly and telling him he’d been doing a good job, but…it somehow didn’t feel like he thought it would. “Thank you…”

“I think we’ll be able to move into the penultimate stage of development next, don’t you?”

“I-I…hopefully?” Weren’t they going to tell him what the final stage? The reason behind all this??

“After we’ve finished the basic functions of the AI, we’ll be able to reprogram into a better body, more adjusted for its intended purpose,” the man carried on, and Chihiro fought the urge to frown. To change the body now, after they’d both grown so used to it… “Nothing major. We’ll change the exterior, and add some firepower and work on building defence…”

Chihiro stopped. “…Firepower?”

“Well, of course. It wouldn’t be very useful without any offensive power.”

“I-I’m sorry, I…” Chihiro’s heart started beating fast, the air suddenly feeling a lot heavier, a lot more oppressive. “I don’t understand.”

The man looked at him steadily, and Chihiro had to look away. “What purpose did you think this AI was being created for?”

“I- I didn’t…” He didn’t know why. They didn’t tell him. He just thought maybe they liked programming as much as him, and wanted to see if it was possible with the right skill and right resources to make something researchers had been dreaming about for years. Wasn’t that- wasn’t that what it should have been?

“This AI has the potential to be one of the most advanced weapons in all of history. We could sell it for an incompressible amount of money. Make copies. Win wars.”

“She isn’t- I didn’t, make it for that reason-“

“No, you made it for us. Under our contract. With _our_ money.”

“I’m not…” Chihiro looked around desperately, trying to keep his voice from shrinking. “I don’t want to do this…anymore.”

The man was silent for a moment longer, to the point Chihiro thought he was going to choke under the heavy air, before he spoke again. “You are aware that cancelling the contract now would mean cancelling all funding to you, as well as paying back the company anything you’ve already used.”

“Th-that’s fine.” Not that he’d even used that much of the money anyway…

“And you’d of course have to wipe all traces of the project.”

“…I can do that.” _Or fake that, at least._

“How disappointing.” The man shook his head. “I expected better from a Hope’s Peak Student. After all this time, too. I hope you understand the weight of your actions.”

“…Sorry for the inconvenience,” Chihiro said, keeping his head bowed but secretly biting back any hint of judgment from his voice. To think of creating such a complex yet naïve program, just to use it for violence…that was unforgivable. Chihiro felt sick just thinking he’d ever had a part in it. He wanted to leave.

It took a few more nauseating minutes to confirm his backing out of the contract, keeping his head down to avoid the sharp stares of the man across from him. Maybe this wasn’t the proper thing to do, but it felt like the _right_ thing. He couldn’t let them use Chiaki like that. Take away all Chiaki was and reduce her to a weapon. Even if he had to pay money for the rest of his life, he wouldn’t let that happen. He was trying to prove that he was good at something, and in a way, he’d already done that. It didn’t matter if some company thought he was worthless. It was about what _he’d_ created. It was about Chiaki.

Chihiro left the building, and took a deep breath. It was over. It was over, and from here on out, he’d have to finish her alone. Though, it wasn’t like he was really alone. He’d have her with him, helping him. That was right. He could do this. He knew he could.

-

“Um…her name is Nanami Chiaki. She might be a little slow, and she’s still learning, but…I hope you can be nice to her, at least!!”

Chihiro bowed to his friends, pressing his eyes shut tight and waiting for them to laugh, or call him stupid or weird or anything like that, but when he stood back up again, they were just looking at Chiaki in a kind of a fascinated awe. Was that a good or a bad thing?

“You’re seriously tellin’ me this girl is a robot?” Owada asked, raising an eyebrow. “There’s no way.”

“If that’s true, it would certainly be most impressive!” Ishimaru stated, looking at Chiaki with a frown. “Does it speak?”

“Um, if you talk to her…”

“For real?” Owada leant towards Chiaki with a suspicious frown. “I mean, I wouldn’t think you’d be one to make this kinda joke, but…you better not be messin’ with me here.”

“Greetings, Nanami-san!” Ishimaru said, bowing forwards politely. Chihiro felt a little relief it was him speaking to Chiaki first, and not someone rough like Owada. Not that he would mind either of them talking to her; that was the whole reason he’d invited them over after school had ended, but…Ishimaru was the nicer option here. “My name is Ishimaru Kiyotaka! It’s a pleasure to be acquainted with you.”

Well, this level of formality would definitely be a challenge for her, at least…

Chiaki blinked. “…Nice to meet you, Ishimaru-san.”

“Oi, are you seriously a robot?” Owada asked, scratching his head. “Seriously, this is creepy.”

“Robot…?” Chiaki seemed to think about this for a moment. “Ah, no. I’m an Artificial Intelligence. I was created by Chihiro-kun.”

“This is incredible…” Ishimaru said as Owada continued to stare doubtfully. “What can she do?”

“Um…sh-she really likes playing games!” Chihiro said, turning to Chiaki with a smile. “I’m still trying to teach her the hand movements for using controllers, but she’s learning really fast!”

“Games are a lot of fun,” Chiaki added, nodding. “Ishimaru-san, can you play Go?”

“If this is the real thing, I’m gonna say you’re seriously insane, Chihiro,” Owada said, shaking his head. “You created this for some sceevy group and then ran off with her?”

“I…had to cancel my contract,” Chihiro said, looking down. “They were going to misuse her, so I thought it would be better if she stayed here…”

“I like it here,” Chiaki said, then made a small smile before reverting back to a neutral face. “Do you want to play Go, Ishimaru-san?”

“Yes, I shall,” Ishimaru said, nodding enthusiastically. Chiaki seemed to register this after a few seconds, turning away to gather the board. Hopefully she could do that much without falling over or walking into anything… “Does she go to school?”

“School?” Chihiro blinked. “Ah, um, I didn’t…really think about that.”

“Of course you’d wanna get some high-tech robot stuck into school as soon as you learn of its existence,” Owada muttered, rolling his eyes. “Couldn’t you like, make her a weapon or something?”

“No.” Chihiro shook his head, frowning. “She’s not a weapon.”

“…Suit yourself,” Owada said after a moment, shrugging. “What’re you gonna do with her?”

“I’m…not sure,” Chihiro admitted. “She seems fine here.”

“But, won’t it get boring for her?” Ishimaru asked.

“She’s a robot, idiot,” Owada said, shooting him a look. “She can’t feel emotion and stuff.”

“I mean…she can act like does,” Chihiro said, watching as Chiaki managed to successfully pick up the box and bring it back to them. “I don’t think she’ll get bored, but I would like to give her more opportunity to learn and grow…”

“That’s why you should send her to school!” Ishimaru said firmly. “A girl her age would normally be attending high school anyway, wouldn’t she?”

“But…I don’t know if she’s ready for that…”

“Sending their kid to school is hard for any parent, huh,” Owada said, grinning teasingly. Chihiro just flushed a little, unsure of what to say. “Maybe you could get her into Hope’s Peak. Ultimate Robot or whatever.”

“No, she’s not a robot…”

“Robot, AI, whatever. It’s all the same.”

“N-not quite…”

The Go box was suddenly dropped against the table with a bang, and the three of them paused, turning to look at Chiaki.

“Let’s play, Ishimaru-san.”

“O-of course!”

“No better place to learn social skills than school,” Owada muttered.

“I’ll, um…try my best to think about it!” Chihiro said, glancing at her again. “I guess if it goes wrong, I can always pull her out…”

“Nanami-san, if you need any advice regarding schools and their regulations, please ask me!” Ishimaru said, bowing slightly in his seat. Chiaki just looked at him.

“School? No, aren’t we playing Go right now?”

“She’s got her priorities set already,” Owada said, laughing. “Maybe she’ll turn into a rebel. Hey, you need any help with _that_ and I can help you out!”

“I-I don’t think that’ll happen…” Chihiro said uncertainly, but smiled all the same. He’d been worried about it for so long, but seeing as she didn’t belong to that company anymore and was getting along so well with his friends…maybe it would be a good idea to send her to school. Just for a little while. It would be a good opportunity to learn, after all.

-

“I-is it all okay? You don’t need anything adjusting, do you??”

Chihiro looked over Chiaki again anxiously, scared she was suddenly going to start malfunctioning or glitching or just-…anything bad. Maybe it was the change of clothes, or the fact she was going to be alone, but…Chihiro felt nervous just looking at her. Was this a bad idea after all?? He shouldn’t have let Ishimaru talk him into it-

“It’s fine,” Chiaki said, face easy. “I don’t see anything wrong.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess there isn’t really anything…” Chihiro swallowed again, taking a breath. “B-but, if anything goes wrong, please don’t hesitate to tell me! You got the hang of the mobile phone, didn’t you?”

“Mm. I was playing Snake earlier.”

“Ah, that’s good…” Chihiro nodded once, then smiled shakily. “Um, then…you’re ready to go!”

“All ready to go,” Chiaki repeated, nodding back at him. “I’m heading out~.”

“Right! Do your best…!” Chihiro watched as she turned, pausing for a moment before opening the door and stepping out. As soon she was out of sigh, Chihiro felt his panic skyrocket again, forcing himself not to run out after her and make sure she was okay. It wasn’t even a normal school day, just an orientation, and for Hope’s Peak of all places, but- but even still…! Wasn’t that just as terrifying?

Chihiro quickly fumbled to pull out his phone, dialling his father as fast as he could and holding his breath as he waited for the call to connect.

“Ah, Chihiro? Everything okay?”

“I, um- I sent Chiaki to school, and…um…”

“And?”

“…I’m scared,” he admitted, sighing as he clutched the phone tighter, finally moving across the room to look out the window. She wasn’t still stood outside the door, which was probably a good sign. Chihiro heard his father let out a slight laugh on the other end.

“It’s nerve-wracking, isn’t it? Sending them out for the first time.”

“It’s just- anything could happen! What if I made an error, and she walks out into traffic, or gets lost, or someone tries to kidnap her or-“

“Hey, slow down. I’m sure it’s going to be fine.” Another small laugh. “Honestly, I felt the same way when I first sent you off to school. It’s amazing how being a parent changes your mind. Suddenly everything is a worst case scenario.”

“I mean…it’s not like I’m actually a parent…”

“Well, close enough for your age!”

“Though, I know she’s an AI, but it really feels like she’s her own person. Code can only create so much, right?”

“It makes sense. If she’s learning off others, she’s eventually going to have her own personality.” His father paused, and Chihiro could hear the smile in his voice. “Kind of like a child.”

“You don’t have to keep saying that…” Chihiro said, sighing, before turning away from the window. “I just…hope everything goes okay. Like, what if people don’t like her-“

“Trust me, it’ll be fine. Even if it’s not perfect from the start, things will fall into place soon enough. Everyone’s first day at school is a little rough.”

“Ah…I guess you’re right,” Chihiro said, trying to relax. “Sorry for causing a fuss.”

“No, I understand how you feel! Your mother had to do a fair amount of calming me down on your first day too.”

“I guess you worried about me a lot, seeing how small I am,” Chihiro said, laughing a little.

“But I knew you’d be fine in the end. And you are, aren’t you?”

“…Mm! I think so.” Chihiro thought of his friends for a moment, and smiled. That was right. The people at Hope’s Peak…sometimes they could be a little weird, or kind of scary, and definitely not like anybody else he’d met, but overall, they were nice people. Nobody there fit in, so nobody stood out. It was nice like that. Somehow, Chihiro didn’t think Chiaki would be the most unique person there. Even if she...wasn’t technically a person.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” his father said, and the words sounded a lot truer this time. “Hey, I’ll call you back later, okay? Make sure to tell me how it goes. As a fellow programmer, I’m definitely excited to hear about an AI’s experience out in the world.”

“Mm, I will! Thank you for your help.”

Chihiro tried to keep those words in mind as he hung up the phone, trying to find something to distract himself whilst waiting for the hours to pass. Tomorrow he’d have to get back to school too, though he’d already done all his homework and finished preparing everything that needed doing. So now all he had to do was wait. Maybe he could try to get some coding done…? Though his main hobby was working on Chiaki’s code, and it was a little hard to do that when she wasn’t here. Ah, this was actually first time she hadn’t been with him since he’d started working on her…that was a strange thought.

Chihiro sat down and took a deep breath. This was going to be a long day.

-

It felt like it had been several years by the time Chiaki finally walked back through the door, and Chihiro shot up instantly, relieved when he saw she was still fully in one piece, no limbs or anything else missing.

“I’m home~,” she said, looking over at him, and Chihiro smiled encouragingly.

“H-how was it?? Was it fun?”

“Ah, mm. Fun.” Chiaki nodded. “I met a lot of new people. They’re…interesting.”

“Ah, that’s a relief!”

“School is very different to here,” Chiaki continued, looking around for a moment before putting her bag down on the table. “I want to play a game…”

“Aren’t you tired…?”

Chiaki seemed to consider this for a moment. “Maybe. But I’d like to play a game first.”

Chihiro still wasn’t sure entirely sure why or when Chiaki had become so good at games, but he wasn’t going to complain. It was the thing that had managed to net her a place at Hope’s Peak, even if she was an AI. Apparently that didn’t count as cheating, somehow. Chihiro wondered absently if there was an Ultimate AI actually out there, or something similar. Something like that…that would definitely be interesting to see.

Chiaki made it another fifteen minutes before her head slammed against the table, the Gameboy falling with a clatter beside her. Chihiro just smiled, taking the handheld and saving the game for her. That was about as much as he was expecting. Her battery power (stamina?) wasn’t exactly very high, and even after charging her up the day before, she still needed time to reboot. Some time to save all that information she’d learnt during the day. Just like humans needed sleep, he supposed. That wasn’t really a bug. Just…a feature. A normal part of life.

Chihiro switched off the device, placing it back down softly. This was nice. It really was…nice. After everything that had happened, he couldn’t really bring himself to regret it. His involvement in those immoral plans and the withdrawal and backing out…now that Chiaki was here, it was all worth it. Maybe...maybe he had proved himself, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> i don't how to coddeeee;;;;; all i know is like 3 hours of python lol;;;  
> if any of the technical details are wrong (which i'm sure they will be lol), let's just say it's the danganronpa universe and all sorts of wacky things are possible there!!!  
> but i always felt like chihiro deserved better than he got in the games;; i just wanted a fic where he's happy and has a big robot family ;o;;;  
> speaking of, i actually wrote a part two to this with keebo, since he's a robot too and i thought it would fun to see them interact!!! but i struggled to finish so decided just to post this for now;; maybe one day!!  
> anyway, thank you very much for reading this lil fic!! see you!!


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